Introduction: Calcaneal apophysitis, or Sever's disease, is the most common condition causing heel pain in children and adolescents. Treatment is predominantly conservative and includes rest, physiotherapy, and the use of orthopedic devices. Purpose: To review the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions in the treatment of Sever’s disease in children and adolescents. Methods: A literature review was conducted using PubMed and DiKUL databases. Four randomized controlled trials and one study with an experimental and control group, published between 2015 and 2025 in English were included. Results: The results showed that physical therapy interventions effectively reduce pain and improve ankle joint function. A statistically significant reduction in pain was observed with the use of elastic adhesive tapes, ultrasound therapy, physical therapy, heel cups, and custom-made orthoses. The best results were achieved with the use of orthoses, where the difference compared to heel cups was statistically significant. Ankle mobility and the functional capacity of the foot and ankle also improved. No statistically significant differences were found among most of the methods compared after long-term follow-up. Discussion and conclusion: The findings indicate that physiotherapy interventions are effective in reducing symptoms of calcaneal apophysitis. However, no single superior treatment method can be identified. Future research should include larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods for evaluating long-term outcomes.
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